Raised beds in your garden.

Raised beds in your garden.

Raised beds are a wonderful use of land. Maybe you only have a small backyard and you want to grow fifteen pounds of tomatoes. Perhaps you have poorly draining soil. Or maybe you just do not like weeds in your garden. A raised bed can help you do all of this.The first time that I had seen raised beds was along the road as a kid. People in my community had very neat ideas for raised beds. I thought that it was all for show. As I grew older, I could see the benefits. Last summer, one of my friends did a raised bed gardening, and her plants were just massive and beautiful. When the land was first planted it looked kind of funny. After all I have not seen a raised bed like what she had done before. There were huge mounds of dirt where the seeds were sown. After the plants grew, you would never know unless you were walking between the rows.There are pros and cons to having raised beds. Let us take a look.

Pros You can add your own soil if your garden plot has poor draining, or overly rocky soil.If you use the soil provided, after the first year your need to weed is cut down dramatically.You will not have to bend over as far, thus saving your back.Keeping your garden organized is much easier.Longer rooted crops have an easier time growing because of the looser soil space they receive.

Cons – Raised beds are a lot of work to set up.If you buy soil for a raised bed, this can get expensive.Raised beds with wood walls dry out quicker than flat lands.Tilling and turning the soil will need to be done by hand for safety. If using wood walls for a raised bed, there can be ongoing maintenance.Sprawling and climbing plants need specialized raised beds for them to grow well.

There we have it. For the urban gardener, I would suggest doing a raised bed. You can maximize your space, and have a great conversation starter for guests. Now before we leave you do not need to build a wood frame and fill it with soil to have a raised bed garden. You can simply mound your dirt up about a foot. This is great for people who do not want to make an installation. An easy way to do this in your back yard or in your regular garden patch is to grab your rake. Where ever you want your row stand on one side of the row, and pull the soil from the walk way on the other side to the middle of the row. Do this all the way down the row. Now go to the other side of the row and do the same. At the end of this process you will have a small valley. Do this for your entire garden. There will be some weeding to do this year. Next year, you should not have to weed pretty much at all.Thanks for reading I hope this inspires you do spice things up in your garden. Experiment with different methods to find what way works best for you.Garrett